Buddhist Catholic Contemplative Evangelical General Christian Hindu Jewish Latter-day Saint Muslim New Visions Progressive Christian

Beliefs

Topics

Columnists

Resource Library

Research Tools

Video

Podcasts

Thought Readers

Faith In Media Tracker

Newsletters

Ad-Free & Subscriber Log-In Subscription Support

Follow Patheos

Home
Religious Music & Entertainment
Begin Again: Born Again

Begin Again: Born Again

Last updated on: November 3, 2014 at 6:49 am by Paul Asay

Begin Again: Born Again 2014-11-02T22:43:53-06:00 Paul Asay

LOGO Patheos Explore the world's faith through different perspectives on religion and spirituality! Patheos has the views of the prevalent religions and spiritualities of the world.

With only Jake Gyllenhaal’s disturbing Nightcrawler new in theaters this past weekend, I want to revisit Begin Again, a little indie flick just released on video Oct. 28.

Begin Again, starring Keira Knightley and Mark Ruffalo, opened in theaters June 27, the same day that Transformers 4 plowed into multiplexes with all the subtlety we’ve come to expect from the series. While Transformers thundered to a $138 million weekend, Begin Again earned just a little over $500,000. And yet, this rare R-rated (mostly for language) confection is pretty sweet and (dare I say it) wholesome in a way that, frankly, Transformers can’t match. They call it a romance, but the love is all about the music and family and second chances. And if you look closely, you may even see an unexpected tip o’ the hat to faith.

Dan (Ruffalo) is a down-on-his-luck music producer—a one-time Grammy-winning dynamo who’s about two bars away from his coda. His marriage has crumbled. He barely knows his teenage daughter. He spends his time and cash on booze, and he’s rapidly running out of all three. And one dark night, after losing his job in the record company he helped create, he’s ready to get drunk and die.

On what might be his last subway ride, snockered beyond recognition, he sees and hears an annoying evangelist handing out pamphlets and encouraging wary riders to seek God. “God may not be on our time,” he says in that sincere, clueless way you’d expect from an evangelist in this sort of movie, “but He’s always on time.” Dan takes a pamphlet and grins a drunken grin, mostly in mockery.

“I’m gonna have a little talk with God, tonight, all right,” Dan says, sloshing off the train. He turns back to the closing doors. “But what if He doesn’t answer? What if He doesn’t answer?”

The train speeds away, not acknowledging Dan’s question.

Dan staggers into a bar and slumps down, just as a woman named Gretta (Knightley) begins to sing. She’s suffered her own miserable day: She just learned her long-time boyfriend has been cheating on her. She’s ready to go home to England and put her life back together, but a friend of hers dragged her to the bar. Now, he calls her up on stage to sing—the last thing she wants to do. But sing she does. And her song—bitter and lonely and hopeless—includes the words, “Don’t pray to God ‘cause He won’t talk back.”

Interesting, isn’t it, how these two apparent rejections of faith sound so similar? God not answering. Here, in the lowest of lows, the two bemoan how God has forsaken them. How He won’t even listen—the worst sort of rejection, I’d imagine, for musicians, whose lives are so wrapped up in sound. It reminds me of one of the most famous angry laments in all the Bible, Psalm 22, verses 1 and 2:

My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?

Why are you so far from saving me,

so far from my cries of anguish?

My God, I cry out by day, but you do not answer,

by night, but I find no rest.

It’s another echo of silence—of a God who does not or will not listen. It’s probably unnecessary to mention that the Psalm like Gretta’s song, was originally set to music.

Those who know the Psalm, of course, know that it turns around. It talks about how those who cried out to him were rescued, how in their anguish they were delivered. God heard the heartbreak and answered.

And in Begin Again, there’s a hint that He answers here, too—on time, as the evangelist said. For in that moment of anguish, these two lost souls find each other. Dan hears Gretta’s song. And he walks over to introduce himself.

“I was ready to kill myself until I heard your song,” Dan says. He admits to her he’s washed up … but he still wants her to work with him to make something special. And Gretta, perhaps even more miraculously, decides that she wants to give it a shot. It’s a new beginning for both of them. They each, in that moment, are born again.

We don’t hear about God for the rest of the movie. Both Dan and Greta do some things that aren’t all that pious. (And, of course, this R-rated movie has lots and lots of foul language.) And yet, I don’t think this nod to faith was an accident. Two lost souls are found again through, you might say, some amazing grace.

Previous Post

October 31, 2014

The Exorcist and Frightening Faith

Next Post

November 5, 2014 Maleficent: Horns, Wings and a Fractured Fairy

Browse Our Archives

Select a Category books celebrities Editor's Choice games movies music news sports superheroes television Uncategorized

Select a Month May 2026 April 2026 March 2026 December 2025 October 2025 July 2025 June 2025 May 2025 February 2025 January 2025 December 2024 July 2024 June 2024 May 2024 April 2024 March 2024 February 2024 January 2024 December 2023 September 2023 March 2023 February 2023 December 2022 November 2022 October 2022 September 2022 August 2022 July 2022 June 2022 May 2022 April 2022 March 2022 February 2022 December 2021 October 2021 August 2021 July 2021 June 2021 May 2021 April 2021 March 2021 October 2020 August 2020 July 2020 June 2020 May 2020 April 2020 March 2020 February 2020 January 2020 December 2019 November 2019 October 2019 September 2019 August 2019 July 2019 June 2019 May 2019 April 2019 March 2019 February 2019 January 2019 December 2018 November 2018 October 2018 September 2018 August 2018 July 2018 June 2018 May 2018 April 2018 March 2018 February 2018 January 2018 December 2017 November 2017 October 2017 September 2017 August 2017 July 2017 June 2017 May 2017 April 2017 March 2017 February 2017 January 2017 December 2016 November 2016 October 2016 September 2016 August 2016 July 2016 June 2016 May 2016 April 2016 March 2016 February 2016 January 2016 December 2015 November 2015 October 2015 September 2015 August 2015 July 2015 June 2015 May 2015 April 2015 March 2015 February 2015 January 2015 December 2014 November 2014 October 2014 September 2014

TAKE THE

Religious Wisdom Quiz

Who warned "the tongue is a fire"?

Select your answer to see how you score.

Paul John Peter James

Books by This Author Books by Paul Asay

See All Titles »